On April 8, Bronson Arroyo made his first appearance in the major leagues since June 15, 2014. The right-hander, now 40 years old, underwent Tommy John surgery that summer which caused him to miss the rest of the 2014 season and the ’15 season. In 2016, in the Nationals’ minor league system, he threw only nine innings before being shut down with more elbow soreness.
Arroyo’s return was remarkable and not just because of his age. Unfortunately, the story hasn’t gone as well as Arroyo had hoped. Entering Sunday’s start against the Dodgers, he carried a 7.01 ERA with a 42/19 K/BB ratio in 68 innings. He had given up a major league worst 22 home runs and a National League high 53 earned runs.
Against the Dodgers, Arroyo couldn’t make it into the fourth inning. He gave up five runs on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts in three innings of work, raising his ERA to 7.35.
Following the game, Arroyo said that his shoulder is getting worse and Sunday’s start may have been his last, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
If this is indeed it for Arroyo, he won 148 games across parts of 16 seasons with a 4.27 ERA and 1,568 strikeouts. He won a championship in 2004 with the Red Sox and made one All-Star team in 2006 as a member of the Reds.